How Low is the New Low?

There's an expression that a person's so low they have to "look up to look down." And yet, from where the nation's CEO sits, the view is so different. Case in point: Last week's (Oct. 17) presidential grandstand er-press conference. In the aftermath, I have one "press"ing question. Has the ole CEO been hitting the hooch? Seriously, he seemed full of alcoholic bravado.

Additionally, alternately dripping in condescension, bullying, threatening in language, and replete with chin-jutting pushiness, Bush demonstrated that he thinks a lot of himself. And yet, his poll numbers are through the basement. Zogby reports his already historic low of 29 percent approval dipped to a new low of 24 percent. Yet he thinks he's doing a great job just the same. Duh! Nevertheless, there he goes again, thinking he can just keep explaining things to us, and then we'll "get it."

"I've never felt more engaged and more capable of getting the American people to realize there's a lot of unfinished business," said the President. Really? Or was his enactment revealing of a broader loss of touch with reality? The arrogance runneth over. And his authoritarian nature is showing. He has morphed into the national enforcer.

It gets worse. Bush also answered a question concerning Vladimir Putin's thoughts on appointing himself Prime Minister after his term expires.

Reporter: Mr. President, following up on Vladimir Putin for a moment, he said recently that next year, when he has to step down according to the constitution, as the president, he may become prime minister; in effect keeping power and dashing any hopes for a genuine democratic transition there ...
Bush: I've been planning that myself.

Funny! (Not!).

We're (he and the Democratic Congress) finding "common ground," said GWB. Really? I seem to think it's GWB's way, or the highway? And so, as Dan Fromkin has noted (here), Bush's notion of "common ground" is more like the Democrats caving and Bush getting what he wants.

Ignoring the lack of imminence of any imagined threat by Iran (ie, he's talking ill-advised, morally bankrupt, elective preemption again--much more on this later), Bush took his typically ominous tone as he bulldozed the Iran subject.

"I believe that the Iranian -- if Iran had a nuclear weapon, it would be a dangerous threat to world peace. It would -- this is -- we got a leader in Iran who has announced that he wants to destroy Israel. So I told people that if you're interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them from having knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon. And I take this very -- I take the threat of Iran with a nuclear weapon very seriously."

Ah, yes, WW3, the big one. (Press conference audience: You were supposed to crawl under your desks and beds now). Here we go again with one of the best tricks in the toolbox of warmongers. Be afraid, he suggests, be very afraid.

But what if the ones we most have to fear are in charge in Washington? What if the damage he and his sidekick can unleash far exceeds antyhing a nuclear-wannabe nation, however we disagree with it, could. The question is, do we let Bush's mindless (and it is midless) "fear" of Iran lead to a senseless widening of a Middle East war? Do we personally, by our fear, apathy, or unwillingness to do the work of refuting every single baseless, senseless charge by Bush, passively enable hard of citizenship, neglect refuting this madness? Or, will we knee-jerk in submission to the Bush bomb-em mentality once more? For all of this new century, we've been flunking the citizenship spine test. And our national leaders are flunking it even more than the populace.

Who Are They Kidding? The Radical "Right" Label Machine Tacks even More Radically Rightward.


Think Progress, a mainstream, slightly left of center organization, whose primary famous name is founder and moderate Dem, John Podesta, has been listed by a radical group of hegemons, promoters of war without end, as one of the ten most "dangerous" organizations in America! But it is "only" number 10 on the list.

Guesss what's number 2? All US colleges and universities. That's right the perpetual war promoters would have you believe that it is dangerous to learn to think for yourself, actually read, and express your opinion. This is an indication of how fanatical are those hell-bent (that's right) hell-bent on destroying everyone having the temerity to oppose its radical agenda.

Conservative front group, Family Security Matters (learn more about it here), came up with this absurd list:

Here's the list:

10) ThinkProgress
9) Muslim Student Association
8) CodePINK
7) American Civil Liberties Union, National
6) Family Research Council
5) Center for American Progress
4) League of the South
3) MoveOn.org
2) Universities and Colleges
1) Media Matters for America

Family Security Matters has lost touch not only with matters of security, but with reality. But worse, enemies lists such as this smack of McCartyhism which increasingly pervades the ranks of the radical right.

The Real Rudy

Take a look here.

Poll: Americans want Congress to Stand Up to Bush, But All They Get is This Lousy Move-On Censure.

by KathyinBlacksburg, Thu Oct 04, 2007 at 11:26:43 AM EST

[Note: This first appeared on October 4 at MyDD.com. A slightly different version of the commentary is cross-posted at RaisingKaine.com under a different title. I have decided to post it to my own blog as well.]

A new Washington Post-ABC poll here shows that Americans want the Congress to stand up to the Bush administration. That's in the real world, but in Congress World it's as "Bizarro-world" as a Saturday Night Live skit.
On Monday, the Senate voted 97 to 3 to give Bush everything he wants --again. Moreover, this WonderBread Senate doesn't know the difference between supporting the troops, supporting the safe redeployment of the troops, hyper-militarization, and military idolatry. Our military defends us, or it is supposed to. But now, it is being misused, and so are we.

We owe our military servicemen and women our respect and appreciation. We owe them honesty in recruiting, honest and sufficient equipping of their deployment, fair treatment, good medical care when they return. I also believe we owe them a GI bill for post-service reeducation, if they wish it. However, we do not owe each and every individual who has served a free pass. Given Petraeus' politcized history and recent Senate testimony, all bets are off. But too many Congressional Democrats think that, in order to support the military, they must give blind homage to the likes of Petraeus. And so they attack their own instead. If you accept the logic of the Congress, it's hard to see how the civilian side of this country is actually in charge. Reflexively giving the Bush Pentagon cart blanch is no civilian oversight. (The Webb Commission, and his efforts to rein in Bush on Iran, are notable exceptions to the utter Wasteland that is the Senate.) And reflexive subservience to authoritarianism is not the same thing as supporting a strong defense.
Dozens of retired Generals have come forward to protest what is going on in Iraq. But rank-and-file Democrats, even moderate PACs have no such right to challenge, albeit irreverently. We are only free to subscribe to DLC-wing orthodoxy.
"What the Hell Is Going On?" asked one blogger after the Senate censure of Moveon.org. He continues:

"No impeachment proceedings, despite the Kucinich Impeachment Articles languishing in the House? A refusal to make the Republican Senators filibuster the Webb amendment that would http:have required a mandatory year's rest between deployments to Iraq or Afghanistan (which wasn't even an antiwar bill, but one crafted specifically to support the troops)? Twenty two Democratic Senators voting to condemn Moveon.org for exercising its right to free speech? No strategy for ending this war other than a vain hope to "peel away" a few "moderate" Republicans? Mealy-mouthed explanations for why nothing gets done?"

Speaker Pelosi hopes to back-burner such compelling issues as troop redeployment until January. Harry Reid demurs to Pelosi. Are either of them even breathing? Read more from Bradblog here .

The GOP relentlessly attacks and defames Democrats, their patriotism, their citizenship, even their right to exist in this Country. What do OUR elected representatives do? They attack us. Even Sen. James Webb, whom I personally went door-to-door for? They vote "yes" on a resolution to condemn us. "Nice."
Move-on was born defending Bill Clinton (a DLC, not liberal) Democrat against being thrown out of office. Numerous phony Starr investigations were framed to accomplish one thing: A perjury trap. Back then, along with other Move-on members, I spent my free time fighting impeachment. MoveOn is, essentially, me. I am not a major figure or donor, but an occasional small-change one. I haven't led a Move-On Meetup group. But I salute the organization's willingness to be firm, tough even, in their advocacy, something most Dems could learn. While previously one Dem after another rolled over and played dead, MoveOn.org heroically fought an illegal war based on lies. Even the majority of Americans now see it. So, why punish a group that saw what most of the lazy GOP-appeaser Senators and US Representatives would not. But judging from the lopsided vote Monday, it looks like almost no one is really willing to stand up to Bush anymore. How will they then do so when he ups his authoritarian ante? And he always does.

When rubber meets the road,only a handful of our elected representatives do what we hired them to do. The others have been fooled or manipulated once, twice, three times --they've struck out. Every minute we are in Iraq we are less safe, not just over there, but here. We are supposed to have a Defense Dept., not an Offense Dept. And because our government continues in its campaign to hold the wrong people accountable for 9-11, we all pay the price. We are paying quite enough, Mr. Obey, who wants a "war tax." What will it take for them to turn off the spigot? There is enough money in the pipeline NOW to bring the troops safely home, and/or redeploy them.

This August, Congress couldn't even be bothered to conjure up the spine to see through Bush's false claim of a threat made to the US Capitol. And it granted Bush his extension to the upending of FISA. More spying on Americans. Unbelievably, after manipulating Congress already, just last week, an administration spokesman claimed in testimony before Congress that just discussing or questioning making the extension permanent would cause deaths! The extension doesn't end till February, but Congress is already being strong-armed into making spying permanent. Where is the oversight--and the Constitution? One false terrorism scare after another--three such pretenses rolled out in just the past two weeks. And the Congress fiddles, beats up on Democratic activists, and kicks 'em while they are down. Citizens are unjustly turned into "the enemy" with the turn of a phrase, when they are not (the enemy), but rather patriots.

As our government attempted to curtail civil liberties right and left, MoveOn.org waged a massive letter-writing campaign, phone calling, and petition drives. It provided Al Gore with a forum for a series of remarkable and courageous speeches on foreign policy, security, and the Constitution. MoveOn.org ran ads concerning the issues of our time. It defended Democrats against election fraud, and stolen elections. It worked to prevent real vote-count fraud, even as Congressional Dems sold us out with their cop to support the oxymoronic "Help America Vote Act. What is obvious to anyone who looks is that, despite the re-labeling and nastiness on the right (err wrong-wing) spin machine, MoveOn is mainstream. But Congress and even some here at RK clone the GOP spin, claiming MoveOn.org is "radical.' For shame. There is a long list of MoveOn.org accomplishments, but I will not list them all here.

Petraeus entered into the fair-game arena three years ago, when he defied military code to write a NY Times op-ed in 2004 to support President Bush's reelection. Generals still on active duty are prohibited from doing that. But we are led to believe he is above scrutiny. More recently, he let himself be used to front White House ghost writers' report--this after the Congress had deferred to Petraeus ("Let's wait to see what General Petraeus says...") and abrogated its oversight responsibility. That much is Congress's fault too, but Petraeus was only too happy to oblige in eliminating the line between the military and civilian authority. When Petraeus testified before Congress, it was clear to anyone who listened, that, despite whatever honor he brought to previous service, he did not do so in his testimony.

When given the opportunity to do so, Congress will default to their worst play book, every time. And, so, rather than condemn John McCain, who unbelievably called for kicking Move-On out of the country, as being the Joseph McCarthyite that he (McCain) is, the simpering congressional apologists for McCarthyism and authoritarian oiligarchy kicked it up a notch. In what universe is questioning an administration which undermines our country, unpatriotic? One which destroys our cherished Constitution? Or an individual military leader, whose own superior at CENTCOM, Admiral Fallon, condemned him as well? The military, like any institution of human beings, is not above reproach. And criticizing a single individual does not make a person or group "anti-military." God forbid!

How is it unpatriotic to care so much about our country that a group of citizens summoned up the thousands of dollars to run an ad in the truest exercise of our Constitutional liberties? How is it so to do one's homework and pay attention? We in the blogosphere are paying attention because the Congress and corporate media often refuse to do so? Why are not the enablers of such attacks on MoveOn.org focusing their sights on the liars of the Century, perhaps the millennia? Why?

We now know, thanks to a blogger at MyDD, that a month before the war Saddam Hussein offered to go into hiding and leave peacefully. But Bush unleashed this terrible war anyway. This makes Congressional bending over even more pathetic and outrageous. This war was was completely unnecessary. But Congressional Democrats are conditioned to seek strength by flexing military might instead of spine strength. There's supposedly only one model for patriotism and it's the repressive GOP model, the authoritarian model, the scrap the Constitution model, the throw-money-at-the military model, the back-any-war-at-any-time, model; the leave- bases-open-even-ones-the-BRAC-Commission -wants-closed model, the never-saw-a-weapons-system-they wouldn't buy model. Oh, ya gotta play tough! Do they not know that that military prop-ism is the surest sign of weakness? Indeed, war hero, General and President Dwight David Eisenhower, knew better than that.
At first Hillary was the only Dem to back Move-On, but then, predictably, she caved and ...condemned Moveon.org. Read about it here. Then she sicked Bill on the GOP (via his rant on CNN), so she could have it both ways. Now she, along with the rest of the Democratic pack, is just fine with attacks on the patriotism of Move-On. Bite the hand that feeds her, works to elect her, defends her when she is under attack. ARGHHHHHHHH!

We have reached a time when candidate Hillary Clinton won't take the "nuclear option" off the table against an ally (Pakistan). She "needs" to act tough. We condemn countries which saber rattle, conveniently forgetting that our own representatives and talking heads engage in the most reckless speech imaginable. They lust after the next war, and the next. They conjure up their dream war scenarios, nightmares if unleashed upon the world. Do they even understand geography? Have they looked at a map lately? They are the ones, Lieberman-like, talking about destroying countries and yet we are to believe that MoveOn.org is hurting America!

And so, the trumped up case for war in Iraq now has a sequel --on the drawing boards in DC and in a newspaper or TV "news" program near you. And it looms as an unbelievable threat to our men and women in the armed services in Iraq. But Bush doesn't care about the troops. Boston Globe columnist James Carroll has written here:

It's hard to imagine that President Bush would actually order an attack against Iran, despite the drumbeat, since the assault would instantly turn 160,000 troops into Shi'ite hostages. But consider such a war, Bush (and Joe Lieberman et al) are. The wars ensuing will last the lifetime of those much younger than I. Americans aren't buying it as Sy Hersh points out:

First, the President and his senior advisers have concluded that their campaign to convince the American public that Iran poses an imminent threat has failed...

We've been lied into war before, after all. But Webb's efforts notwithstanding, much of Congress, apparently, is buying it. Hersh has some terrifying things to report about the newest proclivities of the Bush administration concerning Iran. Read it here.

Meanwhile, our illustrious Senate and House censure Moveon.org. So little range of discussion is allowed on this subject, without some of us being trounced. Dummy up, it was suggested. It makes me sadder than I can say. "Things will get better," some say. "Just turn out the votes in November." But we've heard that one before, over and over for forty-plus years I've heard it. The thing is, our beloved party never seems to learn. Hubert Humphrey, the greatest appeaser to the GOP frame in my lifetime, the man who wanted "to win" above principle, sold his soul as heads were cracked (literally) in Chicago, 1968. And Humphrey lives in the person of most Dems voting yes on the Move-on censure. There is such a thing as wanting to win too much. Those who do (want to win too much) end up having nothing to offer. They smile broad smiles, but are dead inside.

Here's a hard truth: It's not just the Congress's fault. Many members of the organized party, your friends and mine, don't care about anything , except taking the safe path, and "winning" (what I am not sure). I am so sick of going to events where I hear folks who are willing to write off any issue, any and every ideal, just to win. They are out of step with most Americans. And the Washington Post-AP Poll shows it. What if play-it-safers have traded away everything important? Sure winning is crucial, but we don't win anything without a real agenda. We must take back a meaningful majority in Congress and both state legislative bodies.

It has also been asserted that those who contest the unforgivable censure of MoveOn.org could cause a loss in November. However, national Dems censuring their own side of the aisle should have thought about that, for it is they who are responsible for any fall-out or loss of voter motivation. They did this, not Move-On, and not those supporting MoveOn. GOP-appeasing Dems care nothing of the big tent of their own party, attracting and keeping grassroots supporters in the party rank-and-file. We are dead to them. We are not a Big Tent Party, but a GOP-enabler party, a play-to-the-conservatives'-base party, a rub-elbows-at-the-theocratic-organization-The Fellowship party. (According to the new issue of Mother Jones, Hillary actually belongs to this group).

Along with Humbert Humphrey, the DLC lives in the hearts of the Democratic front runners,* and as long as it does, there is no broad Democratic party, only the Bush and Bush-lite Parties. Sound familiar? We must get our party leaders to be more inclusive, while showing tenaciousness at the same time. If they don't heed the message, they should be challenged with primaries--every single one of the GOP appeasers. Note that consensus seekers are not GOP-appeasers, but cowering Dems who allow the radical right to frame us are. When will they stop worrying about what they'll say at FAUX News?

David Brooks isn't right about much, but he's right when he asserts that Dems despise their netroots. And this controversy proves it. Meanwhile, as Congress shirks its responsibilities, MoveOn continues with it's share the heavy lifting, the work needed to refute the lie machine that is our government. And it holds public officials' feet to the fire. All Dems owe MoveOn.org a debt of gratitude for their many efforts. But you won't find many doing the right thing and thanking them. No, they'll run for cover. Before long there won't be many critics with the courage to speak out about anything.

So, I am not going to do the supposedly obligatory scold about the wording of an ad I didn't write or pay for. I support them whether or not the ad was smart, whether or not I'd have written it the same way. To do otherwise misses the point. This is not about "disappointment." Nor is it about being unable to handle differences of opinion, or wanting everything "my way," as a couple bloggers elsewhere have argued. It's about getting nothing but contempt from my own national party, the party of my last forty-plus years of my voting life. MoveOn.org is me and millions of dedicated patriots all over this country. And our national party sells us down the sewer for so little.

Footnote:

* One recent and courageous exception is Barack Obama's comments about a nuclear freeze.

Dear Senator Dodd

Dear Senator Dodd:

As numerous national blogs (including Kos, MyDD and Firedoglake) have urged, please block the bill to legitimate all Bush's FISA abuses. Please, do it for America! We are counting on you. Sincerely,

America's Worst Nightmare, Rudy Giuliani, Has Radical Extremists Advising Him

[Hat tip to Crooksandliars.com]

Whoever started the moniker, "America's Mayor?" That PR description for Rudy Giuliani must have been hatched by Rudy himself. The absurdity of such a nick-name becomes more obvious each day, as we learn more and more about the real Rudy. Radical right wing-nut war-mongers, who were even too extreme to be up-front on the Bush team, are advising Rudy on foreign policy and security. When it comes to bad advice for Rudy, America's been taken down that road before.

--Norman Podhoretz once wrote a book that 9-11 was the beginning of WW4. Terrible as it was, 9-11 was not WW4. That has never stopped opportunists, profiteers, and authoritarians such as Rudy, from claiming such, however. Podhoretz has been lobbying Bush (met with him last month) to bomb Iran. (Why does this man have the ear of the President?)

--Daniel Pipes --advocates war with every Muslim or Arab country in the world. He even believes that if a suicide bomber comes from a particular village, the entire village should be destroyed.

--Thomas Joscelyn is Rudy's "terrorism adviser." He's still falsely claiming Saddam and Bin Laden worked together to cause 9-11. His advice would be worth exactly zero.

Michael Rubin was a key supporter of Ahmed Chalabi. Rubin worked under Douglas Feith's "Office of Special Plans" where he hawked bogus ties between Al-Qaeda and Saddam. He "sourced" bogus "intelligence" from Iraq. In 2003 he wrote a presidential directive to overthrow government of Iran.

Rudy, who recommended Bernard Kerik as Director of Homeland Security, is no one to keep America safe. Here's the latest from CBS News on Kerik's woes to indicate Rudy is poor judgment.

Take a look at TPM TV for the video and more info on the Rudy team of wing nuts.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/056028.php

FOXES GUARDING THE HEN HOUSE

The Wall Street Journal reports that Bush is at it again. He's appointed a fox to take "care of" the hen house. It turns out that Susan Orr believes in abstinence only.

Orr, who will be acting deputy assistant secretary for population affairs, has been directing child welfare programs in another branch of HHS. Prior to joining the Bush administration, Orr was senior director for marriage and family at the Family Research Council, a conservative group that favors abstinence-only education and opposes federal money for contraception.

So, as they say over at Crooks and Liars.com, Bush answers the huge WHO report asserting a greater need for contraception by trying to clamp down on it. It's one more way Bush is out of step with America. Additionally research shows that even among conservatives purporting conservative religious beliefs on the use of birth control, birth control use is high. So, GOPhers are saying one thing and doing another--and expecting us to toe a different line.

Read more here.
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2007/10/16/fertile-ground-for-disagreement/

A Test of Sen. John Warner's Character and Statesmanship

Thursday, the Congress will vote to override Pres. Bush's family-unfriendly veto of S-CHIP. Will the Congress ante up and show that it truly is a family values Congress? Or, will it CS the vote and play ill-tempered games with the nation's children?

Senator John Warner is said to be a statesman. Of late, every time I thought he'd come through (because he professed he would), he did not, but rather caved to Bush. Now that he is not running again, what does he have to lose in doing the right thing? And Senator Warner's vote is a test of his conscience.

Every child and every adult deserves the right to health care. The time is now. Many of us will be watching the supposedly "family values" members of Congress. And we won't forget who really cares about families and who does not. Call, write, and demand that this Congress puts families first.

The "Good Old Days," According to Hillary

[Hat tip to The Nation magazine.]

"I intend to win in November, 2008, and then I intend to build a centrist coalition in this country that is like what I remember when I was growing up." --Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton to the Washington Post, October 10, 2007.

As The Nation notes, the only trouble with this is that when Hillary was young, she was a Goldwater Girl. No wonder Rupert Murdoch loves her (he gave her a fund raiser). That's how far we've come. The Goldwaterites are seen as centrists. And the relabeling process continues.

What US Rep. Joe Knollenberg Thinks of Citizens: He Thinks They Are Not (Citizens)

Rep. Joe Knollenberg and his staff have something to learn about citizens and their status in what's let of our Constitution. Check this out courtesty of Daily Kos here.

If this staffer doesn't speak for Joe, then why is that staffer working there and behaving so deplorably? Typically, staffers run offices as per directives of their bosses. It all makes you wonder how guys like that actually get el--er selected.

Add another so-called representative to the list of races to focus on.

Despicable!

It turns out the the office of Senator Mitch McConnell was the source for the rolling attacks on the 12-year old boy who spoke for Democrats in support of S-CHIP. Read about it here. Here's the short version.

ThinkProgress got a hold of a letter sent from the office of Sen. Mitch McConnell's communications director, Don Stewart. On Monday morning, Don Stewart sent an email with the following text to reporters:

Seen the latest blogswarm? Apparently, there’s more to the story on the kid (Graeme Frost) that did the Dems’ radio response on SCHIP. Bloggers have done a little digging and turned up that the Dad owns his own business (and the building it’s in), seems to have some commercial rental income and Graeme and a sister go to a private school that, according to its website, costs about $20k a year ‹for each kid‹ despite the news profiles reporting a family income of only $45k for the Frosts. Could the Dems really have done that bad of a job vetting this family?

Read more here. Every allegation is a contortion of the truth. The Frost family has not worked the system, but rather more than qualified. The father's business is no longer in existence. The parents both have only part time jobs with no benefits. The family met the legal requirements of the state of Massachusetts for S-CHIP. The children, who both suffer brain injuries from the aftermath of a life-threatening car crash, were given scholarships to private school.

Talk about manipulating facts for ulterior purposes! These pols should be ashamed of themselves. It all leaves one to wonder, just what kind of people are McConnell and his communications director?


http://thinkprogress.org/2007/10/11/mcconnell-staffer-smear-graeme/

Al Gore's Statement Upon the Announcement of His and the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change's Winning the Nobel Peace Prize

[From an email I received.]

I am deeply honored to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. This award is even more meaningful because I have the honor of sharing it with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change--the world's pre-eminent scientific body devoted to improving our understanding of the climate crisis--a group whose members have worked tirelessly and selflessly for many years. We face a true planetary emergency. The climate crisis is not a political issue, it is a moral and spiritual challenge to all of humanity. It is also our greatest opportunity to lift global consciousness to a higher level.

My wife, Tipper, and I will donate 100 percent of the proceeds of the award to the Alliance for Climate Protection, a bipartisan non-profit organization that is devoted to changing public opinion in the U.S. and around the world about the urgency of solving the climate crisis.

Thank you,

Al Gore

Teaching Moment: How Not to Be a Human Being


Paul Krugman is pissed. And so am I. If ever we needed a case in point to illustrate the bully culture cultivated by the wrong-wing of the GOP, this is it. Twelve-year-old Graeme Frost gave the Democratic response (to President Bush's weekly radio address) two weeks ago. He probably never imagined that in this great country, doing such a Constitutionally protected thing is now "grounds" for the Neanderthals and --yes, I'll say it--the fascists of FOX to bully him into silence. There is no place for this despicable behavior on the part of supposed grown-ups who should know better. But where they sit, nothing is out of bounds, even destroying a child.

Here's what Krugman had to say:

Two weeks ago, the Democratic response to President Bush’s weekly radio address was delivered by a 12-year-old, Graeme Frost. Graeme, who along with his sister received severe brain injuries in a 2004 car crash and continues to need physical therapy, is a beneficiary of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. Mr. Bush has vetoed a bipartisan bill that would have expanded that program to cover millions of children who would otherwise have been uninsured. What followed should serve as a teaching moment.

Indeed. Read his full commentary here.

The GOPHER attack patrol would have you believe that a law abiding family was misusing the system. Yet this family was fully qualified for the state's program. Graeme and his sister go to private school on scholarship. Both children suffered serious head injuries in a car crash but the Malkin's of this world don't want them treated, never mind that the parents don't have full-time jobs, but have pieced together a life for their children.

If I have learned anything in the last few years, it is that the radical arm of the GOP will stoop to anything (and everything) to destroy people. For forty years, the hard right has vilified, tarred, and tried to destroy people for the soul reason that they are Democrats, or (God forbid) liberals). We've all witnessed their proclivity to do it to politicians.

But it's much worse than that. Ann Coulter had a book tour a couple of years ago for a book entitled "How to Talk to a Liberal, If You Must." Her answer to that question was "with baseball bats." The bully culture, fostered by such destructos, aims at one thing: silence the majority, silence anyone not agreeing with them, create a culture of fear, and underpin an authoritarian society.

Over and over again, the triumvirate of FOX "News" slime have sought to harass ordinary people. They target citizens they disagree with with harrassment, threats, attempts to destroy careers, "inspire" zealots to do harm to citizens of this country.

And now we have Michele Malkin sliming her way into the lives of a 12 year old boy, showing up in the child's father's place of work, trying to destroy a family. They are trying to accomplish one thing: assure that no one will speak out in support of Democrats, whether moderate or liberal. From where they sit, they are the sole arbiter of what is politically correct, yet they try to spin otherwise.

The unAmerican bullies defy morality, patriotism, and decency. But, hey, it's all for the greater glory of their radical agenda. The "end justifies the means." But it doesn't. Means matter.

Breaking News: Al Gore (and the UN intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) won the Nobel Prize.

You can read more on this breaking story here.



Al Gore, is a real leader for this still young century. For twenty years, he has tried to rally citizens of our country and the world to focus on the environment. He has tirelessly devoted himself to making a pivotal effort on climate change. He had the insight to lead the Congressional effort to facilitate the launch of the internet. He stood up against the Iraq war. He has formed a bipartisan group to support efforts to the restoration of the US Constitution. He has the foresight, and judgment, experience second to none. His statesmanship easily outdistances every candidate of any party. Gore for 2008!




http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21262661/

"Really, Sen. Craig?" (from SNL's Seth and Amy).

[Hat tip to Americablog and YouTube.]

This skit concludes Craig does indeed have a wide stance. Here's the link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zal8UnnzGiw

David Obey's Tax Grandstand

US Rep. David Obey is playing the fool to make a point. He wants to have a war tax. Is this the best Dems can do? Surely such an idea will backfire, as such grandstands always do. Dems have a way of doing stuff like this. They try to highlight Bush's gaping failures, on 9-11 or during Katrina and Bush's inability to implement meaningful improvements for the future, so they come up with some idiotic ploys. First, they push for a DHS, for example.. Trouble was, when Bush figured out how to build it so his cronies could control it, it wasn't a good idea. Now we've got an agency spending money hand over fist, spying on Americans, trotting out outrageous massive databases, the errors in which no one can correct. But our ports are still insufficiently inspected, commercial jet cargo is underinspected, and towns and villages unlikely to ever get attacked by terrorists are tapping the DHS well. Worse, DHS is an agency so large and cumbersome, it's ungovernable.

Still other Dems, including some I know, think we should have a draft to make a point. This is surely the dumbest idea of all. Instead of bringing this appalling war to an end, just send more kids to they killing fields, these misguided souls suggest? I beg to differ. Our sons and grandsons are not bargaining chips or pawns on some horrific chess game.

Now, instead of standing up to Bush, which is what most Americans want, Obey wants to raise our income taxes? Talk about losing touch with reality. Instead of acting decisively and appropriately, Obey grandstands to make a point. "Nice." But Americans want Congress to cut war funding, not pay more money to let it run on indefinitely. Do the Democrats in Congress even hear the people any more?

Instead of cuts in an elective war funding (elective, remember, since Iraq had nothing to do with 9-11), we are getting a series of negatives instead.

We've:
--suffered a loss of national integrity;
--been demeaned by an ever increasingly war-mongering administration;
--been forced by Bush, and an all too willing Congress, to lose our Constitution;
-- lost esteem for Americans around the world;
-- got a looming economic crisis deferred so future recession, or worse, is likely inescapable;
--seen our social programs written off, borrowed from, or otherwise "privatized" (i.e., drowned in the Grover Norquist's bathtub).

There are many more negatives, but they are too depressing to list... And none of this addresses what has been unleashed against innocent civilians in a country whose late leader offered to go into exile, but was refused for the enrichment of Bush cronies.

If there were to be a war tax, and I am not suggesting there should be, it should come from the wallets of every privateer who is benefiting from that war, every single opportunistic contractor and mercenary (not security team, but mercenary) which pushed war without end for its own enrichment, but America's and Iraq's expense. Whatever happened to a windfall profits tax?

But the real solution is to cut the funding to the extent that there is enough to bring the troops home. Nothing more and nothing less. Then eliminate the no-bid, contractor friendly climate which seeks to fulfill Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower's deepest fear. Now, the war profiteer tail is wagging the dog.

Most Americans Want the Restoration of Our Civil Liberties

While the Congress fiddles and the Constitution burns at the hands of this administration, Americans want something else: The restoration of our civil liberties.

There's an excellent read over at FiredogLake. Read it here.

http://www.firedoglake.com/2007/10/05/pendulum-what-pendulum/

Conservative Andrew Sullivan calls Bush Administration "Fascist"

Once again, George W. Bush falsely claims the US "does not torture." Check it out here.

But that is a lie. The administration's appalling record on torture, now confirmed yet again by a former DOJ official, has gone on far too long. Simultaneously, there are far too few voices raised against the extant climate of Constitutional lawlessness. But, some, including some notable conservatives, are speaking out. Here's what Sullivan had to say in a longer piece here.

For me, it is a defining matter in the corruption of conservatism, which is why I placed it at the heart of a book, detailing Bush and Rove's sustained attack on the conservative tradition. When conservatives subvert the rule of law ... to enable torture, and when only one man gets to decide who gets detained and tortured, they are no longer conservatives. They are fascists. And they need not just to be defeated; they need to be repudiated.

Sullivan also said:

The way in which conservative lawyers, and conservative intellectuals, and conservative journalists aided and abetted these war crimes; the way in which the president of the United States revealed so much contempt for the law that he put a candidate to run the Office of Legal Counsel on probation before he appointed him in order to keep the torture regime in place, the way in which Republicans and Democrats in the Congress pathetically refused to stand up to these violations of American honor and decency in any serious way (and, I'm sorry, Senator McCain, but in the end, you caved, as you always do lately): these will go down in history as some of the most shameful decisions these people ever made.

Such institutional barbarism is a sign of what our nation has become under Bush. And that is, unfortunately, a bully, lawless one. Americans must demand that our administration be held accountable. Our Congress must cut off funds for Bush's lawless operations. But torture is "only" the tip of the iceburg. The two leaders should be impeached.

--Torture;
--Unitary executive (authoritarian rule);
--Falsifying the case for war;
--Trying to deceive Americans into yet another war -- against Iran;
--Destroying a surplus and pushing the deficit into historic terrain;
--Destroying the health of our economy, which is not measured by stock prices alone;
--Wholesale handover of our tax dollars to cronies and no-bid contractors;
--Costing America most of her allies and her reputation;
--Stealing election 2000;
--Manipulating election 2004 with constant terrorism "warnings";
--Hoodwinking Americans into a climate of fear with such frequent false warnings;
--Whole scale refusal to comply with laws passed by Congress and "signing statements" used as a substitute for the legislative branch.
--Lying to the American people about just about everything.

Bill Clinton was impeached for lying about an affair. Where is the justice when this president has committed far worse transgressions?

The House must press forward. Let the impeachment hearings begin. NOW.

The So-Called "One Person, One Vote" Doesn't Apply in the Texas Legislature

"It's all about integrity," says one of the Texas spinners. But it's not integrity we are seeing. Check it out on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eG6X-xtVask